Teachers and TAs!

I think the role of a TA has changed dramatically over the years.

I taught in a large primary school in the early 2000s and TAs used to support with groups in the classroom, assist with photocopying and displays and be an extra pair of hands to assist the teacher. There was time to sit with children and really get to know them and every class had a qualified teacher leading it.

When I left in 2023, TAs (who were not HLTAs) were used for teaching whole classes to cover absences and this included long term absences, planning and leading interventions outside the classroom and teaching very high needs children on a 1:1 basis. This included nappy changes and personal care as well as dealing with behavioural issues such as biting and punching.

The role of a general TA is gone in many schools as the budget won’t cover it despite the need being greater than ever.

The TAs I worked with in school were poorly paid in return for being dedicated highly trained professionals and their goodwill was completely abused by the school. I would not recommend working as a teacher or TA in the state sector the way it currently is because of all the above reasons.

I'm a primary teacher and absolutely love it. I enjoy every day. So glad I made a move in my 30s after a corporate career. However, I'm not in the UK, where it sounds less enjoyable.

@NeedYourOpinion as you have an offer, just try it. You never know.
It's interesting to me when people talk about the hours being suitable and fitting around your own children / family. It's not just about the hours - if you've had a bad day, you take that stress home with you. It's not a job you clock off from, especially if you find yourself worrying about things. A thick skin is needed, me thinks.
Having said that, I was a primary school teacher for 25 years in a 'rough as hell' ( 🤣 - made me lol) school. I loved it - the kids, the teaching, the creativity, the team work, even the parents ( not all, and I had many serious altercations), but as a pp said, teaching has changed. We became an academy, and it all very quickly went downhill.
I'm now a cleaner. I get to clock in / clock off, no stress, and I've actually never been happier.
Anyway, we're all different @NeedYourOpinion - try it, see how it goes.

My DM was a teacher for most of the 1980s. She was constantly ill with coughs, colds and flu and she was very stressed and for that reason very bad tempered. The day she gave up that job, we got our lovely mum back. One of my best friends is a teacher and both her young adult DCs have always said from an early age that they will never ever become teachers.

On the plus side, it can be incredibly rewarding. My mum taught a lot of very disadvantaged kids many of whom did not speak English at home and she got them through science O-Levels (the school usually only did CSEs )

As with anything, there are pros and cons.
I was an Individual Needs TA in an infant school and it was tough! When I worked with children who just needed a little more adult support, that was fine and I largely enjoyed it. I also trained to carry out several interventions, again with children who needed some extra support and I largely enjoyed that too. BUT, the behaviour declined dramatically during the 12+ years I was there! The amount of SEN children is astronomical now. At my school, we received next to no SEN training and the ‘support’ from SLT was shockingly awful.
I was pulled from my role to be a 1:1 for a reception child who was aggressive. Not toilet trained etc. I was fed up basically being a babysitter with the added bonus of being thumped, kicked, spat at and shouted at. The child was 5! That, together with the dramatic decline in behaviour through the school, the demanding parents and lack of support, made my mind up to walk away from it all. I was waking up in the night dreading going in. And all on a low wage. TA’s are also expected to do more and more. We were teaching groups of children for a fraction of a teacher’s salary!
The school holidays are a positive (especially if you have school age children) and a lot of the children are lovely and funny and wanting to learn but it was completely overshadowed by the behaviour and lack of support. We had children wrecking classrooms and throwing things around and then if SLT bothered to come and help, said child would then go off and get given treats and sent off to do some cooking etc. So unfair on the children that always behaved.
Sorry that was long and a bit of a rant! But no, I wouldn’t go back into a school to work I don’t think.

TA does work really well when you have children, as long as the hours are short enough to drop off or collect your own kids. I found with my LSA role that I needed to use wraparound care a couple of days a week. It didn't really make sense financially which was one of the reasons I left.

Evening work, weekend work, early starts, staying late does seem to be really common though among teachers. TAs shouldn't be doing any of that imo

I did leave! Teaching was absolutely horrific and I'm not exaggerating. Workload totally unreasonable. I was in at 7:30 every morning, leave at 5, rush to pick up my own child, get him to bed as quickly as possible so that I could work for another 3 hours. Every fucking relentless day. Plus Sunday.

In my opinion the teaching profession are their own worst enemy regarding workload. I used to raise it and the response was "that's teaching 🤷🏻‍♂️". Twats.

I now drive to work at 9 with a smile on my face again rather than waking up at 6 already a ball of stress.

What job would you be leaving for the TA role?

People who are getting on well in their jobs, or in life in general, don’t tend to be on online forums looking for support. So it is naturally skewed towards those who are struggling or unhappy. I teach TAs, currently have around 40 of them doing the course, and they have a hard, low paid job, but most of them are enjoying it, or certainly most of it.
Definitely finding a school where you ‘fit’ seems to be the key.

What are your working hours going to be? Is it at the same school your children go to?

Is it a 1:1 role?

I left teaching last year, the job was unrecognisable from what it was when I trained. I wouldn’t recommend teaching to my worst enemy. If you are seriously considering it-go and spend a few hours in the ‘Exit teaching and thrive’ Facebook group. Properly read and think about what people are saying.

TA-ing has always been poorly paid, but used to be quite a nice job. Many of these ‘classroom support’ roles have gone now and the only support staff in many schools are either 1:1 with very high need children where you are essentially delivering a bespoke curriculum for a pupil who cannot be in the classroom (many are hit, spat at, kicked, scratched, sworn at) and spend a lot of time changing nappies or running around chasing them as they’ve done somewhere the shouldn’t have. OR they are used for whole class teacher absence.

Either way, it’s virtually minimum pay and people don’t seem to do it for long any more.

Worst move I ever made and I ignored people who advised me not to. Do not do it.

Been teaching for over 20 years; having had various responsibilities, I now cope with tge job of teaching by doing it part-time with no extra responsibilities. Since I am a very much shortage subject, I can get a job anywhere so I don't kill myself anymore. School appreciates my expertise. I would say don't be a primary school TA - they have to teach lessons which at least secondary ones don't have to do that!

@NeedYourOpinion I'm now an EOTAS Tutor (education other than at school). I 1-1 f2f in homes and care homes; all of my learners have an EHCP and cannot currently access an educational setting.
Being a teacher just wasn't working with a 4 yo of my own. I left at 7 am to get in and left school at just gone 5, but then of course work to in the evenings at at weekends. Couldn't attend any of my own daughter's events at school course. Apart from the school holidays, I would say teaching (especially primary) is one of the least own child-friendly jobs you can have.
I love my job now but it's incredibly challenging financially as no pay at all school holidays and no sick pay. I'm not sure it's going to be financially viable for that reason in the long-term, but for now I am absolutely loving what I do.
Re TAs. The pay is appalling for what they do. They genuinely are invaluable but incredibly put upon and often expected now to teach small groups etc. Obviously it's not full-time hours so a ft minimum wage job pays more.

I'm a teacher at a big comprehensive school, and absolutely love it. Been teaching for 5 years now, wouldn't do anything else. It comes down to having the right school, I think. Mine is rough as hell, but I get on with everyone I work with and the kids are mostly amazing.

I have been a TA and and LSA, primary and secondary school. For me, the primary TA job was not enjoyable. I think that was more to do with the teacher I worked with and the school on general than the job itself. I wouldn't be against doing something similar again, but maybe in early years. I was a Y6 TA and found it a challenging age to work with!

I really enjoyed being a secondary school LSA, but I was in an amazing school with generally brilliant behaviour. I was mainly with bottom set but even then it was not too bad. My only criticism of that job and the reason I left was that it could get a little boring and the pay was terrible.

I am now non-teaching staff in a different secondary school, but I work in an office. I love it. Still get to interact with some of the kids but not as intense as I am not asking them to do something diabolical like...working...in lessons 😨.

If you really like working with young people and care about them, I do think it can be a good career move. Despite what a lot of people say elsewhere, the teachers I work with now mainly say they love their jobs.

I'm a TA in a junior school. I'm currently in a year 5 class. On the whole, it's pretty satisfying.

However...

the pay is dreadful and we are expected to do more and more for less and less.

there's no induction as such. And you are very much a commodity. You might find yourself starting your new TA job on the Monday, receive zero induction and then be covering the class in the teacher's absence by Wednesday.

as more schools are "onboarded" by academies, everything becomes more corporate and restrictive and you may find yourself using nonsense words like "onboarded"!

behaviour is getting ridiculous and it's frustrating when you've just been sworn at by a child and you see them living their best life, ankle deep in Lego in the head's office.

The plus points are that there are so many absolutely wonderful children who want to learn and if experience a "lightbulb moment", you will be on a high for hours. You will end up with a box full of drawings, notes, craft projects and cards from the children that will bring you so much joy. Not a day goes by without a child making me laugh and you may very well be an important constant in the life of child you desperately needs you.

I work in a non-teaching role in a school. The teachers I work with who care and do their job well work and ridiculous amount of hours. They are in school at least 8-5 and work several hours more at home most nights, at least one day at the weekend and also tend to come in during the holidays. That isn’t everyone, but it absolutely is not the hours people say it is. Behaviour and SEN needs are often extreme and expectations are high. The hardest bit is the demands of the parents.

TAs are working incredibly hard for terrible money. You would usually be a 1:1, dealing with very challenging behaviour and not being well rewarded for your efforts.

if you are lucky enough to be in a great school and have good colleagues, maybe it’s worth it. I’m not so sure though. Go in with your eyes open.

I love it most of the time - head of department.
everyone has off times, it goes up and down.

you need to talk to someone about how it really works in practice

I had a great day yesterday..6 lessons, all stuff I've taught dozens of times so no.real prep beyond some photocopying, lovely kids, interesting conversations and questions..all good.

Assessment of pupils to inform next steps? Gaps in learning? Adaptive teaching?

(cannot be just a few work sheets!)

Or are you teasing….

I'm a TA and I love it. I do think you have to be in a school where you agree with how the school is run. I had a job in one particular school for a year that I didn't love, largely because I felt the behaviour management was lacking consequences and was ineffective which I found really frustrating as it wasn't within my control to change it. Now I'm back in a school where behaviour is managed well I'm back to loving my job again.

I was a TA for several years. I had the TA qualifications achieved over several years whilst working as a Nursery Nurse. I worked mostly with SEN pupils but was increasingly expected to do cover for teachers (without any extra pay). I was getting poor feedback as some children I supported were not improving fast enough in their learning. These were children with severe learning difficulties who were never going to meaningfully progress.
I had chairs thrown at me, was kicked and spat at. For not much more than minimum wage. And in Spring term had the anxious wait to find out if my contract would be renewed for the following year.
I left to work in Early Years in a private school. After that I was a Support Worker for adults with learning difficulties in Supported Housing. Although still minimum wage it was the job that I enjoyed most and I did that until I retired aged 61.